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Tablets for depression – Do antidepressants help? |

Albert — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 17:00:24 +0000

Although antidepressants are prescribed with increasing frequency, their efficacy is the subject of debate. It’s known that placebos can be just as effective in cases of mild-to-moderate depression. Nevertheless, in Germany you’re now eight times more likely to be prescribed the medication than in the 1990s.

A large-scale study from 2008 shows that in cases of mild and moderate depression, a placebo was just as effective as the real thing. But still, every year doctors prescribe enough antidepressants to supply 80 million people in Germany for more than two weeks.

So, what’s the impact on patients? How can such controversial medication be so successful?

“For many years, the tablets have been my loyal companions in the process of coping with my depression.” Christine (52) lost her job because of her depression, attended psychiatric clinics seven times and says today: “I don’t care what the studies say, I sense that my medication is working.”

Most antidepressants alter the levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain, in particular serotonin. Although for a long time it was thought depression was triggered by lowered serotonin concentration, this theory has now been disproved. Doctors and scientists still don’t really understand what happens in the brain during depression – but this has done nothing to dent the successful sales march of antidepressant medication.

Mary (42) curses the day she began taking antidepressants: “They haven’t improved my life, they’ve actually made it much worse,” she says. Mary’s been gradually reducing her dose for four years, but her body is rebelling. “Up to now, these weaning problems have been totally under-estimated,” says Professor Tom Bschor, one of the leading experts on antidepressants in Germany.

#documentary #dwdocumentary #antidepressant #depression
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How our brain judges people in a split second |

Albert — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 15:00:32 +0000

Friend or foe? In a fraction of a second, our brain forms an impression of a person based on their facial expressions and voice. And artificial intelligence is getting better and better at interpreting human emotions.

Faces and voices are the first impressions we get of people we don’t know. In less than half a second, we decide whether we like or trust a person, and how intelligent we think they are. That’s thanks to the astonishing processing power of our brains. We learn to read facial expressions as babies, and as we grow older we continue to interpret emotions according to facial expressions. The voice also plays a crucial role: speed, syntax, tone, and phonetics all provide information about what a person is feeling.

But we are not the only ones who can decipher human emotions. Artificial intelligence technology is also learning to read faces and voices. A photo or a spoken sentence is usually enough to get information about identity, health, emotions and even personality. And the internet has become a vast and ever-growing database of faces and voices. Based on the sound of a voice, artificial intelligence can now detect whether a person suffers from Parkinson’s, depression or even Covid-19. In this documentary, international experts offer insight into the latest science, illuminating how our brains work — and the potential of artificial intelligence.

#documentary #dwdocumentary #impression
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How does touch affect our mental and physical health? |

Albert — Sat, 02 Apr 2022 16:00:08 +0000

Touch shapes us as humans. Indeed, touch is fundamental to what makes us social beings. Touch influences how we perceive stress and pain, who we trust and who we fear. How does this work? And what happens to us in the absence of touch?

Gentle touch is vital for us humans. It creates the first contact with the world for newborns, giving us a sense of security and belonging. Touch influences our immune system, and on our feelings for our fellow human beings. Especially strong feelings, such as love or compassion, can be better conveyed through touch than through words, facial expressions or gestures.

Given how important touch is, it’s no surprise that humans have a highly specialized system devoted exclusively to perceiving gentle touch stimuli. Why does the touch of a stranger feel so different to that of someone we are emotionally close to? What is happening in our brain – and what role does the brain play in all this?

In an era of social distancing, touch research is becoming increasingly relevant. How does it affect us, and our relationships, when we are required to keep our distance? Researchers explore what role touch plays in our physical and emotional well-being, and what the consequences are when touch is missing.

#documentary #dwdocumentary #touch
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